


Eddie? Is it really you?

by Paddy_2020



Series: The SEAL and the Medic. [3]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Army Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Bi Buck, Fluff, Gay Eddie, Happy Ending, M/M, U.S. Navy SEAL Evan "Buck" Buckley
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:53:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28330434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paddy_2020/pseuds/Paddy_2020
Summary: Evan Buckley-Diaz, now old and tired, married to his husband of fifty years Eddie Buckley-Diaz, reflects on the day they first met and the day they first re-met.US Navy SEAL Evan Buckley, met Army Medic Eddie Diaz in Afghanistan. At the young ages of 19 and 21, the two boys were still discovering many things about themselves but there was only one thing they both knew for sure - they wanted lives of service. To live such a life, one has to make constant sacrifices - the jobs they did were only taken on by those who wanted them with every fibre of their beings and they truly did. Other than this one, simple aim, the boys had no idea of who they were or who they wanted to be. Their voyage of self discovery on tour led them to an unexpected and initially terrifying realisation.Eddie Diaz, realised he was gay - and that he had a crush on a hunky SEAL he had rescued in combat.Evan Buckley realised he was also Bi - and that he had an infatuation with a cute, yet tough army medic who had against all the odds saved his life.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Christopher Diaz & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley & Henrietta "Hen" Wilson, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Howie "Chimney" Han, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: The SEAL and the Medic. [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2042890
Comments: 5
Kudos: 53





	1. We were young once

**Evan and Eddie Buckley-Diaz’s house, 13th August 2071:**

Christopher walked into the room, watching his sons putting up the banner ‘Eddie and Buck 2021 - 2071. _You can have my back any day_ ’ his daughter had ordered it for them, feeling guilty at being unable to see her abuelo and grandpa on their golden wedding anniversary - Shannon Buckley-Diaz had followed in her grandparent’s footsteps to become a firefighter, so couldn’t get the time off. The job was very different to the one that her 80 year old relatives had done - relying on robots going into the danger they had once run towards, but the total inability to get time off. That was universal.   
  


Chris felt his phone going off in his pocket and answered, picking up the thin sheet of glass, seeing his cousin Charlotte helping her mother to the door. 

“Maddie! We’re so glad you could make it!”

”I wouldn’t miss this for the world. I remember the wedding - it was beautiful. Anyway, we’re the only three of the old 118 left”. A sad look flashed across the 91 year old’s face. Bobby had been the first - he died of cancer in 2033 - aged 68. The considered medical opinion at the time was that the radioactive cobalt fire the 118 had responded to in the late 2010s had been the underlying cause. Then had been Athena - she had died two years later in a car accident. After her, had been Hen - age had not been good to her and she had developed a heart problem which led to a cardiac arrest, she died in the back of what had once been her domain - an ambulance, aged 85. Karen had not taken the loss well and was very soon admitted to a nursing home and eventually a hospice where she died in 2041, aged 86. Finally had been Chim, he had been careful, sticking rigidly to an exercise regime until the end - he died peacefully in his sleep in 2065 aged 94. Now the only three left were a 91 year old Maddie, an 82 year old Eddie and the ‘Baby’ - Evan who was 80. 

“How are they?”

”As sickeningly in love as always”

”Is your dad any better?”

“Yeah, he’s still got a bit of a cough, but they both do - I suppose that’s firefighting for you”

”I hate that fucking job, it’s stolen more loved ones from me over the years.”

”I know Maddie, I know”

”How are you and Grace?”

”Good, looking forward to our trip to Germany next month, even if I’m going to be spending half of it doing lectures”

  
  


“Morning, baby” Eddie croaked to his husband.

”You too, my love. You know what today is, don’t you?”

”How could I every forget the day we said I do”

”I’ve just realised, we’ve become like Mitchell and Thomas”

”Yeah, we have and it feels fucking great”

”It’s all I ever wanted. I remember that conversation I had with him about love. I’m so happy I found it”

”Me too mi amor. Me too”

”Dad, Pa. are you up?” Chris walked into the room to check on his fathers, his sisters would be along soon, but he wanted to relive the way it used to be with them, back when he was an only child.

“We are superman. Thank you for being here today. You didn’t need to” Eddie began.

”I did, it’s not every day that you’re fifty years married. And anyway, I want to be able to transport everyone back to when you two were good looking”

”We’ve aged gracefully - good genes”

”Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that. Anyway, dress you nicely you two, because we’ve got a bit of a party organised”

“Yaaay!” Everyone started clapping as the two men walked arm in arm (as always - the older they got, the more clingy they became) down their hall. Eddie was moved to tears when he read the banner and pointed it out to Buck, who put on his glasses to read it, stroking his husband’s ring finger as he took it all in.

Edmundo Buckley-Diaz junior then walked up to them, before saying “now come on, you have to tell us about how you two met - we only ever get snippets and we want the full thing”

Evan Buckley-Diaz junior then agreed with him “yeah, come on we all want to know”

”Well, it all began when I was 19 and your abuelo was 21...”

”But it really began about 10 years later when we met again”

  
** Station 118, ** ** 2019 **

“Ohhh, no Chim, the place on that calendar is mine, and mine only”

”I’ve still got it!”

”I can say that without the still”

”Hey, guys, now that is a beautiful man and I don’t like guys” Hen began

“Well I do and I’m single so he’d better be ugly as fuck in reality or be at least Bi, otherwise I’m gonna have a breakdown”

”You’ll get another partner, don’t worry”

”I know. I just miss being in a relationship. I don’t even miss the physical part that much, I just hate going into work, knowing that there’s no one really who cares whether I get home or not”

”We care Buck”

”I know, but you know what I mean. I want what you and Karen have Hen”

”Yeah, I get that”

“Anyway, what do you know about the probie? Because I’m probably going to be teamed up with him”

”Oh, you definitely will be, he’s an ex-army medic, won a Silver Star apparently”

”Huh, could be interesting then. When do I ruin his day by telling him he’s not the most highly decorated vet in the station?”

”Play nice Buck” Chim demanded

”Anyway, do you know anything else? He went by the name eight pack in the army apparently”

”Eight pack?!” Buck whisper shouted

”Don’t get jealous. You’re not doing too badly in that department either.

”No, I dated a guy who was an army medic who went by eight pack. Where’s he from?”

”Texas I think”

”where is he? I have to find out for myself”

Just then Bobby walked up to them. Buck was still raving away from the new recruit. “I want to introduce you all to out we probiem Eddie Diaz. Eddie, cause you’re ex-military, I’m going to out you with...”

”Eddie?”

”Buck?”

”What are you doing here?!”

”What the fuck are you doing here? Seriously. I don’t know whether to kill you or kiss you”

”Well, I don’t really want either. Why did you never try to contact me.”

”Buck, you know I couldn’t. We met during don’t ask don’t tell. And by 2011 I...”

”You’d moved on. That’s okay, everyone does. No hard feelings eh?” Buck said, almost on the verge of tears.

”No, I didn’t know if your address was still correct and I also got a girl pregnant and my parents insisted I married her” Eddie said, shamefully.

”Oh, so you’re married. Congratulations”

”Not anymore - she left me. I think she always knew I was gay”

”I thought about you over the years”

”I thought about you too - you were my first boyfriend and you helped me through some serious shit”

“We helped each other” the two men were invading gradually closer into each other’s space. Before Buck closed the gap with a hug - their bodies slotted together like they had never been apart and it was at that moment that Hen realised how intimate their relationship had been.

”I really missed you over the years. Even without the physical side to it, I never had a friend like you again”

”Me neither Eddie. When did you leave the army?”   
  


“Last year. When did you quit?”

”Three years ago - an op went wrong and we lost a load of people. I lost my nerve after that and didn’t want to do it anymore”

”Can I be honest Buck? I’ve missed you dreadfully. Now that I’m back around, would you go out to dinner with me?”

”No Eddie, I’ve moved on too. But I am looking forward to working with you” Buck was going against everything his body wanted to do. At every turn he was having to fight the urge to grab Eddie Diaz and kiss him senseless, before slowly and carefully taking him apart in bed. Instead Buck decided to play hard to get, hoping to entice the man in and see whether he was willing to out the work into a relationship.

The boys were separated by a cough “I know we’ve stepped into something here, but you’ve been hugging for about five minutes now. Can I assign you as a team or do you two feel too attached to manage it?”

”I trust him with my life Cap, he’s saved it before and I’m sure he’ll be capable of doing the same again”

”I trust him too - I would be in some hole in Helmand province if it wasn’t for Buck’s SEAL team. He’s loyal to a fault if he cares for you and I want to earn that loyalty”

”Okay. I want to hear more of this and I’ll probably have to contact the chief regarding the situation anyway”

”If I can prove myself to you, would you give us a second chance Buck?”

”Ill consider it...”


	2. How we met

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buck and Eddie continue telling their story. Including how it all started.

**2071:**

”Ok so that’s how you re-met, but how did you get together in the first place?” Evan Junior asked

”Well, we had a very similar conversation with our crew actually. Although you can understand more of it now because most of the details from the mission are declassified, whereas they weren’t then...”

** 118 - 2019: **

“So, how was your dinner last night then boys. Because you both look like you had a very good time” Hen chuckled

”Well, there were a few experiences we wanted to relive, I won’t deny it. However, I will admit it was nicer to relive them in a warm bed, rather than a foxhole in a war zone where if we were caught by our own army we’d have been dismissed and if we were caught by the insurgents we’d have been stoned to death, soo. Yeah, by all accounts an even better experience than the first time we did it”

”Do you two actually have no shame. You’re wounding my ears” chimney shouted

”Nope, absolutely no shame. We’re unapologetically infatuated with each other over here. Too bad if it’s hurting your ears, cause it’s been wayyy to long”

“Okay, but seriously guys, tell us about how you met” Hen demanded.

”Okay, well you know that I was a SEAL, and that Eddie was a medic, yeah?”

”Yeah”

“Well, during the latter years of don’t ask don’t tell, there as a bit of an opinion shift in the military, suddenly your fellow soldiers, rather than touting on you if they saw you in a compromising position as many generations of men had done before them, would set up their friends on ‘dates’”

”The way you said that makes me think that doesn’t mean a candle lit dinner” Hen joked.

”That’s true - these ‘dates’ could be anything from arranging for you to clean the toilets together, romantic I know, to reworking the roster to temporarily put you in a fire team together. But it was really was a godsend for people like us. It meant a lot to know that your team had _your_ back, rather than the hyper masculine persona you created for yourself’s back”

”Anyway” Eddie took over. “My team pretty much figured out I was gay before I did. And a couple of Buck’s friends Kew he was suffering a bit of a sexuality crisis and they decided that we should go on a ‘date’ and see if it made things clearer for us”

”Oh, so it was love at first sight” Hen said, imagining the two solider’s forbidden romance

”No, it was hate at first sight. Absolute hatred”

”Yeah. We were way too similar for a normal relationship. We were either going to love each other absolutely and totally or hate each other to the same extent. We ended up taking the first option” 

“Ohh, so what made it change?”

”My field hospital was overrun by insurgents and we were all taken hostage”

”What!”

”Yeah, anyway the SEALs were sent in and all I really remember from that day was a lot of explosions, a lot of shouting and a load of screams. And then Buck running into the room, grabbing me and hauling me out of the room I was being kept in”

”He’s liked it rough ever since” 

“Shut up” Eddie said playfully, giving Buck the middle finger.   
  


“Anyway. I saw something in you that day that I didn’t see before - I suppose I saw Buck in a new light, I thought he was cocky and annoying on our first date, but then I saw that was just his sort of shield. I saw the way he interacted with his team and I respected it, he listened to what they thought, he actually followed orders...”

”Haha, Cap! Eddie’s reminiscing about a time when Buck actually followed orders!”

”Yeah, I think you’ve got the wrong person Diaz”

”No, it was different in the SEALs. Don’t follow combat orders and the person beside you dies. Don’t follow LAFD orders and the only one at risk is you, most of the time. What cap doesn’t understand is that if I do something stupid and reckless, I don’t expect one of you to save my ass if it goes wrong, so I’m the only one in any danger”

”Buck. Tell me you don’t mean that” Bobby said

”I do, this job is my life and if I go out doing it. I’ll go out a happy man. I love my work. What can I say”

”Buck, I worry about you. You keep a book of all the people you rescue, just like I did. That’s not a good thing”

”I like to be reminded of the good work I do, I don’t keep the book for the same reasons you did. I just like to feel that I’m making a difference after a call goes wrong, or after I get a phone call telling me a buddy had died in combat. That’s all. Anyway. Where was Eddie in his story”

”Going all weak at the knees after seeing you in combats”, Eddie replied “Anyway. After Buck got us out. I made contact again and we tried another ‘date’ this one ended much better and is where my comment about us doing it in a foxhole came from. After that, we maintained contact - Buck was in his first month of a six month tour and I was halfway through an 18 month tour, so we had six moths of dating stretching ahead of us so that’s what we did, we tried to meet up in person once a week, Buck bribed my sarge to let him come and see me in the army barracks a few times and we wrote to each other - Buck became Evelyn in my letters, I became Edie in Buck’s letters and that was how we continued until the fourth month of Buck’s tour”.

”I was part of a special ops mission - I was one of my team’s snipers, although when they didn’t need that sort of cover, I was also trained to just be an ordinary member of the team, but that mission, they needed a sniper. Anyway, we flew in to the mission area onboard a helicopter and I was stationed beside the open door of the moving helicopter with my rifle to take out anyone with an RPG or whatever the insurgent’s anti aircraft weapon of choice that month was. So I was sitting there, halfway through the journey when I just felt something slam into the side of the black hawk and we started spinning and spinning as we fell to the ground. If I hadn’t been harnessed in, I would have fallen out the side to my death. It is one the very few moments in my life when I have known the actual meaning of the word terror. Anyway. The helicopter crashed into the ground and started burning, and I was knocked unconscious because when we finally crashed my head smacked off the butt of my gun. My team didn’t realise this until they did a headcount, and by that point I was trapped inside this flaming carcass of a machine and no one could get to me. Well, when Eddie - who most of my team knew by that point, arrived on scene and found out it was me in there, he quite literally ran through fire to get me out. I was burnt pretty badly at that point and he definitely saved my life. After that I was sent home for a while, we maintained contact for a while, and then my parents heard me on the phone to him and they started interrupting the flow of letters, they intercepted Eddie’s before I read them and didn’t bother posting mine, which was something I couldn’t really do anything to combat as any direct sunlight on much of my body was absolute agony. We kept trying to contact each other for a while, and then eventually, we both started to believe that each other had moved on. Until we met here.”

Buck looked up to see tears welling in Bobby’s eyes, Chimney looking like he’d seen a ghost and Hen openly crying. He then kissed Eddie like his life depended on it.

** 2071: **

“So let me get this straight...”

”I sure hope there’s nothing straight about this story. I’m pretty sure we’re both gay kid”

”Oh the sense of humour is getting worse with old age.” Christopher exclaimed dramatically

”I’ll show you old age superman”

”Anyway”, Evan jr interrupted. “Let me get this straight you both saved each other’s lives and then thought you didn’t love each other”

”Yeah” Buck said simply

”Dios” Evan jr exclaimed “I sure hope I’m never that dumb with love.”

”Hey, the making up was all the more fun because of it”

”Didn’t need that image!” Christopher shouted, before Maddie walked in and dragged everyone to the kitchen for food.


End file.
